Minefield, by the time that the Lone Wanderer comes across it, is an abandoned settlement filled with, as the name suggests, frag mines. Travelers approaching the area must avoid the mines as well as rifle fire from a residing sniper named Arkansas, who will not only shoot at intruders, but will also attempt to detonate nearby cars with a well-placed shot to their fusion engines.

Contents

Background

Before the bombs fell, the isolated township of Ridgefield was a quiet community nestled in to the hillside, far away from any major roads. More than a century later, a tribe of military survivors stumbled across its remains while traveling from the north. They quickly realized the value of a defensible, hidden location, and managed to make it their own.[1]

The settlers' fortune would run out, however, and on one fateful day, the slavers of Paradise Falls came to the town hidden in the hills, and gunned down anyone who stood in their way, enslaved the surviving inhabitants, with the sole known exception being Arkansas. He was a small boy when the slavers first came and captured nearly all of the people living in the town, and continued to swear revenge against the slavers, even as he grew older and older. Eventually, Arkansas managed to spread rumors that a new tribe had settled down in Minefield, which once again attracted the attention of the Paradise Falls slavers, who came to raid the town as they had before.

Upon their arrival, the slavers were harried by a hidden Arkansas with his sniper rifle, with their numbers decimated by the landmines scattered all across the ruined settlement. The slavers took heavy losses that day, and never came back. Now an old man, Arkansas still shuffles around Minefield, and remains as the sole inhabitant of the town.[2]

Layout

Minefield consists of half a dozen houses built around a curving road, with a playground in the middle between the road. Mines are situated on the road, with Arkansas being situated in a destroyed house roof overlooking the road.

Gillian House (Average locked): Two pre-War books are in the front room, one on the bookshelf and the other on a table. A Grognak the Barbarian can be found on the child's bed upstairs.

Gibson House (Very Easy locked): A copy of Tumblers Today is on a desk, and four pre-War books can be found in the front room, one in the children's room on the bookcase, one in the master bedroom's bathtub, and one on the bedside table. In the living room, there is a locked model home (Very Hard) that can be unlocked using a key that can be found on Gibson's corpse inside the Capitol Post building.

Benson House (Hard locked): A pre-War book is on top of a ground floor bookcase, with a D.C. Journal of Internal Medicine and a pre-War book is in the upstairs master bedroom.

Related quests

Notes

Minefield was called Ridgefield before it was filled with mines (the Ridgefield gate key may be found on Arkansas' body.) Moira Brown also mentions this when asked, if the Wasteland Survival Guide objective is incomplete.

Arkansas will shoot cars near the Lone Wanderer, causing for them to explode. This is a scripted effect, and will occur even if the Lone Wanderer remains undetected with a Sneak skill of 100.

Appearances

Behind the scenes

The names of the houses in Minefield are references to the Hideo Kojima game "Snatcher". In the Capitol Post building in L'Enfant Plaza, a decapitated body sitting with its head between its legs can be found, with a note on it that says "SEARCH THE HOUSE". This is identical to a scene in "Snatcher". The house in the game also had a miniature house model. "Gibson" refers to Jean Jack Gibson, the character from Snatcher. The "Gillian's House" refers to "Gillian Seed", the protagonist of Snatcher. "Benson" is the name of two characters from the game as well (either Benson Cunningham- the chief or Harry Benson- the engineer). The name of the last house, Zane, is however not used in "Snatcher".

Gallery

Minefield in G.E.C.K. -- walking into red areas cause Arkansas to shoot cars, mines, or other objects if he is present (even if he is not hostile).

References

↑Fallout 3 Official Game Guide Game of the Year Edition p.332: "3.09: MINEFIELD (LAT 04/LONG 14)Before the bombs fell, the isolated township of Ridgefield was a quiet community nestled into the hillside and far from major roads. More than a century later, a tribe of military survivors stumbled across it while traveling from the north. They quickly realized the value of a defensible, hidden location and made it their own. Now no one goes to Ridgefield anymore, and the ghost town is known only as "Minefield." People swear that it's haunted by the last survivor's ghost. Arkansas is the "ghost" in question; he may be old, but he's still a crack sniper, and he's holed up in the ruined concrete building at the town's north end. Sneak down from the Water Tower [2.O], as this has the least number of Mines to worry about. There are dozens dotted around the entire area; deactivate them and cover the ground very slowly."(Fallout 3 Game of the Year Edition Tour of the Capital Wasteland)

↑Fallout 3 Official Game Guide Game of the Year Edition p.61: "ArkansasThe last of the military survivors who made Minefield their town, Arkansas was a small boy when the Slavers first came and captured nearly all of the tribe, but they never found him. Swearing revenge, he spread rumors of a new band of inhabitants and set a trap for the Slavers. When the Slavers came to raid the town again, they were harried by a hidden sniper and decimated by landmines. The Slavers took heavy losses that day and never came back. Now an old man, Arkansas still shuffles around this place."(Fallout 3 Official Game Guide Game of the Year Edition Wasteland Census)

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